28 SOCIAL SCIENTIST effects on Kerala, but the social system based on caste had not been fundamentally affected until the period under the British. It will now be interesting to see what were the effects on the non-Hindu groups of the breakdown of the caste system as the basis of the relations of production. We shall start with the case of the Muslims., and deal later with the Syrian and Latin Christians. The Muslims The trade between Kerala and Arabia had begun long before the Arabs became Muslims. From the 13th century onwards most of these commercial activities were concentrated in the north of the country, particularly in Gannanoreand Calicut. In this latter kingdom, in addition to their commercial monopoly, the Muslims had received the right to spread their religion. Intermarriages then led to the formation of a group called Mappilas, or Moplahs—or more exactly Jonaha Moplahs, since the Syrian Christians of mixed descent were known as Na^rani Moplahs.6 The Muslims, as a consequence, were most numerous in Malabar, especially in the taluks of Ernad and Valluvanad. In the course of the 19th century a large number of freed slaves were also converted to Islam, as well as some of the fisherfolk. The cultural system of the Muslims was extremely antiquated, at least as far as formal education was concerned. In 1872 a plan was drawn up for the Koranic schools attached to each mosque to teach the vernacular language as well, though always under the direction of the local mullahs (priests). But the results were disappointing, and in 1894 their educational system was separated from the mosques. In order to understand the place of the Moplahs in the relations of production it is necessary to recall certain historical facts. Those of them who lived along the coast were either fishermen or traders, but in the interior of the country many had become farmers, and were therefore the subjects of Brahmin or other Hindu jenmis. When Tippu Sultan occupied Malabar most of these jenmis fled to the south and the Muslim farmers, by paying tribute to the State., became the actual owners of their lands. But their ownership lasted barely 25 years, for after the British had defeated Tippu Sultan and imposed on him the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1798 (the Treaty was actually between Tippu and the East India Company), and had themselves assumed administrative control over the territory, the jenmis returned. Since the British looked on the jenmis as landed proprietors, they introduced the usual type of land-tenure legislation, enabling them to levy taxes on the land—taxes which the jenmis as usual, passed on to their tenants. The immediate results were crushing rents, evictions, and so on. We may add that the caste Hindus, on their return, took revenge on the peasants who had been converted to Islam during the rule of the Sultan, by refusing—among other things—to grant them land on which to build mosques or establish